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Busch Gardens Once A Brewery

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 15, 2008

TAMPA - Anheuser-Busch's storied brewing history includes a Tampa footnote.

The nation's largest brewer made its Budweiser and other beers at a small plant on the grounds of what would become Busch Gardens starting in 1959. The original "theme park" was a beer garden where patrons could enjoy free Bud products from the plant while watching an exotic bird show and the Busch family's own animal collection at Busch Boulevard and 30th Street.

As decades passed, the plant became one of the oldest, smallest and most expensive to operate of the Anheuser-Busch properties. It produced about 2.6 million barrels a year, while siblings such as a plant in Cartersville, Ga., produced 6 million a year.

In October 1995, Anheuser-Busch announced it would be selling several high-profile assets: The St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, Busch Stadium in St. Louis and its Eagle Snack Food division.
August Busch III came to Tampa to relay the news that the local brewery was also on the hit list. It was razed, its 17 acres handed over to the theme park, and 375 local residents lost high-paying union jobs.

Jerome R. Stockfisch

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